Cover of The Seduction of Mimi
The way Communist ideology is smiled on in 1974’s The Seduction of Mimi, a film by Italy’s Lina Wertmuller, is more offensive than the clunky vulgarity here. But I disesteem them both, and I disesteem Wertmuller. That said, I must admit the film is positively riveting because it is funnily satirical as well as oddly enamored of romance—and because it stars Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. Oh, how I wish some of its satiric targets had been different! How I wish there hadn’t been so much crud! If you want to take the movie’s fascinating little trip, go ahead, but the crud is there. Thank you, Ms. Wertmuller, but for very little.
(In Italian with English subtitles)
